The present invention relates to a tape cutter for a wound body of wide adhesive tape used frequently for packaging or other purposes. More particularly, this invention relates to a hand-sized tape cutter that forms a non-adhesive area of the adhesive tape, which has been drawn from the wound body of adhesive tape, by folding under the side edge of the adhesive tape along its lengthwise direction to cause the adhesive surfaces of the tape to stick together, thereby making it easier to peel off the adhesive tape when it is attached to an object.
Adhesive tape is made by applying an adhesive agent containing rubber or synthetic resin as its principal component, onto one side of a long thin-film base material of, for example, cloth, cellophane, kraft paper, rubber, or polyvinyl chloride. This adhesive tape is generally wound into a roll and is distributed as a wound body of adhesive tape and is used for various adhesion purposes. Wide adhesive tape with a tape width of about 50 mm is frequently used particularly for packaging such as sealing cardboard boxes.
When such wide adhesive tape is used for packaging or other purposes, the adhesive tape is drawn from the wound body of adhesive tape, is cut to a desired length, and then attached to an object. As an example of a tape cutter that makes it easier to perform the above operation, there is a tape cutter that enables attachment of the adhesive tape merely by holding it in a hand and pressing the adhesive surface of the adhesive tape pulled out at the top end of the tape cutter against an object.
With this type of tape cutter, the adhesive tape drawn from the wound body of adhesive tape is flat, so it bends and hangs when it is pulled out of the wound body, and it then can become stuck to the outside surface of the wound body of adhesive tape. Accordingly, when attaching the adhesive tape, a user has to go through the inefficient process of peeling off and holding the edge of the tape with the fingertips, and then unwinding and attaching the adhesive tape to the object.
Lately, arms for supporting the unwound tape are used and placed on both side ends of the tape cutter in the area for guiding the tape in order to prevent the tape from becoming stuck to the outside surface of the wound body of adhesive tape. However, since the drawn tape is flat, when a long length of the tape is pulled out beyond the supporting arms, it bends and hangs, and sometimes becomes stuck to other objects, and then the tape cutter is no longer operable. Therefore, the supporting arms need to be located at positions close to the top end of the unwound tape, that is, close to the tape cutting blade. However, if a user holds the tape cutter in his/her hand and tries to press and attach the adhesive surface of the unwound top end of the adhesive tape to an object, the supporting arms are in the way and the tape cannot be attached properly. As a result, the fact is that the user has no choice but to employ the inefficient conventional method of holding the tape with the fingertips, pulling out, and then attaching the top end of the tape.
In most cases, the tape cutting blade attached to the tape cutter is exposed and, therefore, may be dangerous. There is another type of tape cutter having a cover plate that is located above the tape cutting blade and capable of swinging via a spring. However, even when the tape cutter is not in use, the cover plate will move if a finger or anything else touches it. Therefore, this type of tape cutter cannot assure complete safety.
As an improvement on the above-described type of tape cutter, a tape cutter having the following structure is proposed: a tape guiding member along which a pulled-out adhesive tape is guided is formed at one end of a main body on which the adhesive tape, which is wound in a roll, is mounted; a tape cutting blade is placed at the top end of the tape guiding member; a plane along which the pulled-out adhesive tape is guided is formed in such a manner that its middle part is raised compared to its edges; a tape holding member that has a plurality of protrusions on its surface is placed in such a manner that it covers and overhangs the plane along which the adhesive tape is guided; connecting arms are formed at both side ends of the tape holding member to cover an area extending from the top end of the tape cutting blade to the plane along which the adhesive tape is guided; the cover plate having a plurality of protrusions on its surface is held between and is made to engage with the connecting arms at both side ends of the tape holding member, and is attached to the tape holding member via a main shaft that passes through the connecting arms and is fixed to the side faces of the tape holding member (see, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open (Kokai) No. 2001-146356).
In most cases, wide adhesive tape for packaging is often used for the purpose of temporary binding. Having been attached to an object, the adhesive tape is later either torn or cut off.
The adhesive tape is made by applying an adhesive agent over one side of a base material. Since this base material is thin and the adhesive agent is applied to the entire one side of the base material, it is difficult and cumbersome to peel off the adhesive tape attached to an object. Specifically speaking, in order to peel off the adhesive tape where the entire adhesive surface is stuck to the object, it is necessary to form a tab by, for example, scratching the adhesive tape with finger nails or the like to cause the end of the adhesive tape to stick up, and to then pull the tab to peel off the adhesive tape. This process of scratching and forming a tab is very cumbersome and annoying.